Category Archives: cooking

Brisket On A May Evening.

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in cooking, Relationships

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Sunday I went by Food Lion to get something I didn’t really need and serendipitously found a good deal on a fresh, not corned, beef brisket. Yee Ha! I can use that killer brisket recipe I found on the BettyCrocker.com website. It is cooked in a slow cooker. The trick is it uses a fantastic brown sugar spice rub to coat the meat.. Take 3 tbs brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, celery salt, garlic powder, any other stuff you think might be yummy together and rub it on the brisket.

The original recipe called for ketchup as the basis for a barbecue sauce. Well, doggone it, I was out of ketchup, so I substituted a can of diced tomatoes, added a chopped onion, 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce and about 3/4 cup water. I put the slow cooker on the low setting and let it cook for 5-6 hours, (Hint: use your meat thermometer to gauge you preferred degree of doneness.) Not using ketchup, I decided to “deep six” the idea of a sauce altogether. I just ladled the tomato/onion/cooking liquid over the sliced meat.

I made a salad with romaine, fresh mandarin orange slices, diced cucumber and alfalfa sprouts. I added some dried dill weed, tarragon, poppy seeds and lavender. I made a salad dressing from lemon juice and canola oil, mixed it well to make an emulsion and poured it over the green and orange stuff. Finally I added toasted slivered almonds and parmesan cheese (from the shaker can, think Kraft). I tossed it real good. The lavender accents in the salad are sublime.

The last part of this meal was roasted corn on the cob. I husk the corn, wrap in parchment and cook at 325°F for about 30-45 min. I use the convection setting on my oven. This method is so much better than cooking the corn in boiling water and the clean-up is much easier.

Tomorrow I will be fixing a black bean & corn salad. I will also fix another black bean salad, but substitute quinoa for corn.

As I said the other day cooking is very erotic. It is life-affirming, in my opinion. There have been so many beautiful moments in my life centered around a dining table. And new meals create new memories. Some meals are focused around recapturing the past, like Thanksgiving dinner, or a Passover Seder. Other meals thrive on their novelty. Sometimes not trying to recapture an old memory opens the space for fresh experiences and enriching deep relationships.

It is good to be alive.

Sunday Break

06 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in cooking, food, Sport

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Today was a repeat of yesterday. Get a meal ready before she decides she wants to go out. This gets me moving around and using my imagination and skills. All around a win. I figured we’ve saved about $70 this weekend with this strategy.

I found a Boston butt section at Food Lion Thursday, It was reduced meaning it needed to be prepared sooner rather than later. With Goya Mojo Criollo marinade I fixed Cuban-style “roast” pork in the slow cooker. It is a) fool-proof, and b) delicious. You can look it up. Hint): Put the meat in the cooker, pour over the marinade. Cook on the “low” setting for 5-6 hours.

I next had some black beans on hand that I then cooked with shallots, garlic, cumin, a dash of turmeric and a couple shakes of Badia Taco Seasoning. Badia is another Latino foods line that has some good products

I had some zucchini cooked with tomatoes, mushrooms, shallots and garlic that I seasoned with Herbes de Provence simmering away.

Lastly I fixed some cornbread. Good. Old. Cornbread. I make it from a recipe I took from the back of a bag of cornmeal. A sure winner. Again easy. Mix 1 cup cornmeal, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/4cup sugar, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp.salt in one bowl. I sift the ingredients, but that’s not necessary. In another bowl, beat an egg ,add a cup of milk (or buttermilk or kefir), and a quarter cup oil. Add the liquid to the dry, mix “real good”, and bake in a greased 8 x8 pan at 425 for 25 minutes or till golden. Foolproof. Delicious. Southern.

I enjoyed our lunch with a glass of hibiscus tea. Luzianne sells hibiscus in tea bags and its red color and tropical flavor is a delight.

I’m sitting, thinking about the bad broadcast coverage of the Kentucky Derby on NBC. The Suits at the Peacock Network thought they could make an interesting 2-hour show out of a 2 minute race. Well they couldn’t. I don’t care who Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or Al Roker thinks might win. Or the profound insights of the owners, trainers and jockeys. I did notice that Bob Baffert has a hairstyle similar to legendary professional wrestler, Ric Flair. Greatness imitates greatness.

As near as I can tell, the jockey gets on the horse, points it in the same direction as all the other horses are running and hopes for the best. (The Best includes horse and jockey living to race again.)

All in all, it was a very exciting race. I don’t follow the horses much, not being a bettin’ man. It is obvious from the desperate attempt to gin up interest that horse racing is dying out.

This quiet Sunday is what I needed. I have had a late sleep, a nice meal and life is good. I needed the rest.

Resting A While

05 Saturday May 2018

Posted by in Catholic Life, cooking

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

The First Friday/Saturday of the month brings Nocturnal Adoration. Since my insomnia can easily have me up at Four AM, that is the time for my Holy Hour. I sit, meditate, pray The Rosary. It is a time for contemplation.

Much as it is rewarding for me, I feel it the next day. I have had a couple of naps. When Mrs CorC? woke up, I decided to fix breakfast/brunch. Having a brunch ready preemptively means we don’t go out and spend an absurd amount of money for a meal not that much better than what I can fix at home.

The selection today was a savory breakfast crêpe with a mushroom, bacon, cheese filling. I use the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe. I think it’s the most recent edition, put together by Marion Cunningham. It is a simple batter. The trick to a thin crêpe is to use very little batter (2 tablespoons) per crêpe. The brunch was well-received. I think we would have spent $25-30 easily going out.

I’m sitting now. Tired finally. The clean-up kicked my butt. Now I’m watching the end of the Yankees/Indians game. Yankees won, winning 14 of their last 15.

Honesty Advisory:

I find cooking highly erotic. The tactile experience, the smells, tastes, and, most importantly, the shared experience of eating with my lover. I can even forget the absence of a sexual component to our marriage.

I am always reminded of the marvelous film Babette’s Feast. A Parisian chef uses her lottery winnings to prepare an unforgettable meal for the Danish sisters who gave her a home during a political exile. It is from a story by Isak Dinesen.

So I will swim later. I have not been swimming consistently for a while. It is good to go back. I literally am working through the grief of a lost friendship.

A little passion would go a long way toward working through this pain.

Hitting The Reset Button

26 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by in cooking, Exercise/ Fitness, Fashion & Grooming

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, ,

Figuratively, of course. I came to the realization that that is precisely what I am doing. Call it belated New Year’s Resolve to Do Things Right For A Change, By Golly!

It’s just that goals and purpose in my life got muddled. The new glasses and the haircut shook me out of my complacency. Add to those look-changers shaving my beard off. That action brought the only near-instantaneous Buyer’s Remorse. Then again the beard grows back pretty quickly.

I just started thinking about all that I do reflexively. For example,  I will do something with the computer without fully clearing out old stuff. It’s like the computer needs a cyber-enema.

So today I got some techs to go over the machine to clear out unnecessary programs and updating drivers , all with the intention of optimizing performance. Any of this activity merely reaffirms that I have not the foggiest of ideas of what I have been doing, am doing now, or will do in the future. Anybody else like this?

That completed, and with face and skull in transition, I decided to began my figurative clean out.

1) What’s Important and Must Be Kept: Sobriety, Faith, and Fitness.

A clear head, free of alcohol and drugs fosters honesty for me.

My Faith opens the door to Love. Not sentimental “niceness”, but not harsh judgmentalism either fall within my concept of Love. Lots of acceptance of people as they are comes with my idea of Love. I must point out when my friends are on the road to self-destruction, but understand that I can’t make them who they aren’t. That either makes sense or is just so much psychobabble.

Fitness is taking caring of my body. Exercise means swimming for me. Long restorative swims work my muscles.

Fitness means eating right and eating well. To that end I bought Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Baking Chocolate, and Nielsen-Massey Vanilla. Luckily I know plenty of Chocolate Sluts. There will be some serious chocolate goodies prepared here.

OK, one of the Techie Types will be calling soon about something.

Here is a pic of Beardless Me. I’m beginning to scare myself

Cooking For Fun

07 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in cooking, food, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

What’s the saying, “Why do it if it isn’t fun?”  Let’s be real. Sometimes cooking isn’t fun. Like it’s work and the budget for food is small ’cause there ain’t no money. Then again there are opportunities that cry out for creativity. 

Friday, there was almost an entire half gallon of milk with a “sell by” date of 30 December. It figuratively was imploring me to use it. Add to the ingredient pool two bars of Ghirardelli Baking Chocolate, one 100% Cacao, the other Semi-Sweet. Last night we made real hot chocolate with melted 100% Cacao. Just melt 2 oz of the chocolate, mixing it into a cup of water, Add sugar. Then add three cups of milk. Bring it almost to boiling. There are more steps but that is the gist of it. You will wonder why you ever use that instant hot cocoa mix, especially with the vile desiccated marshmallow marbles.

Today I melted  two ounces of the Semi-Sweet in a double boiler, dissolved that in milk and added it to Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding as it cooked. I added a shake or two of cinnamon, just because the cinnamon was within easy reach. That received a nod of spousal approval.  Now there was a cup of milk left from the short-dated  half gallon. A cup of Hot Ovaltine finished that off.

I did not let the milk go bad. Mother and Dad would have been proud. The calories consumed is another question.

Night Picture

16 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in Amtrak, cooking, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

It is the middle of the night. Back pain has me awake. There will be no trains to watch till after 5:30 AM.  The Silver Meteor , #98, Miami to New York ,is running late. Then again, it usually runs late, from a little to a lot.  Amtrak tries. They really do.

But for now, as I take a break from reading Behrouz Gets Lucky by Avery Cassell, I decide a selfie is in order. I turn the camera around, so I don’t take a mirror image. I doctor the picture a bit. I look at myself and say, “What the Hell, I’m 66.”

Behrouz Gets Lucky is an entertaining read, about two masculine presenting lesbians who fall in love with each other. Doggone it I love Love. I don’t care much for TV love shows.  I’m partial to Fred and Ginger kind of love stories. Substitute Rita Hayworth or Judy Garland for Ginger. Then again, if dancing is not your thing, Bogart and Bacall are perfect.

“You know how to whistle,don‘t you Steve? You put your lips together and blow.” 

MrsCorC? has a hair appointment in the morning. I will go swimming while she gets clipped. Maybe.  I may just sleep.

I made bread in the bread machine motivated by nothing more than laziness and reluctance to shell out $3 or more for a loaf of marginal stuff. Much as I like the convenience of the bread machine, it’s time to knead my own dough with my own hands.  Maybe make my own scones or beignets. The catch is to bake for somebody else, like my AA buddies. Why the Hell not? Perhaps it will assist in managing my hours a little better.

So where is this picture, you ask?

Here. That vein on the left side (right side?) looks kind of imposing there.

Snow

09 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in cooking, Soup

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

There’s no Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. It’s just been snowing in Richmond since mid-afternoon. It rarely snows this early in the season. I imagine the local TV guys are going nuts. The local snow coverage makes the JFK assassination story look like a supermarket opening,

But it is beautiful. I am watching the Virtual Railcam LLC webcam view of Ashland near Richmond. It is a picture book small town longitudinally bisected by double railroad tracks. We all agree Ashland is a nice place. And it looks great in the snow at Christmas with the Christmas lights and all.

I haven’t been away today. I fixed tonight’s chicken vegetable soup out of what was on hand. And the cornbread too.

I might start to worry if it doesn’t let up by tomorrow afternoon. But the value of snow around here is the opportunity to sit back and reflect. It is at most a three or four day inconvenience.  Here in Richmond, the go-to snow removal guy is called Mr Sun.

Rebound

17 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by in cooking, Hedonism

≈ Leave a comment

Today was better than yesterday.  I went swimming. 2500 meters. I am now tired, a little light-headed, as if I could fall asleep.  It is a nice feeling. A caress, a naked, skin to skin caress would feel good. 

I fixed a slow cooker chicken dish, with onion, mushrooms, garlic, diced tomatoes, and chicken. Boneless skinless. I seasoned it with Herbes du Provence. I  added a 2lb bag of frozen French-cut green beans, after it had cooked a couple of hours. It turned out pretty good,

MrsCorC? had her medical coding and billing class tonight. I had several hours to entertain myself. When I’m feeling good, I’m pretty good company with myself,

OK. I give up Going to bed. 

Friday And Fish Sticks

20 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by in cooking, food, memoir

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

I had a tomato caprese panini (or is that panino?, singular?) for lunch, with a bowl of minestrone. I do the abstain from meat on Friday penance most weeks. It reminds me of my childhood. I wasn’t raised Catholic but the public school I attended always had fish sticks on Fridays. They were served with boiled potatoes  sprinkled with dried parsley, boiled cabbage, and corn bread. I still like fish sticks. Until now, that has been one of my darkest secrets. Now you know.

It is a quiet day on the trainspotting front. The trains have been rolling through Ashland more or less on time. Right now, I’m waiting for the Northbound Carolinian #80 to pass through. It is about 15 minutes late. The leaves are just beginning to turn, but it is hardly dramatic. Here comes #80 Northbound just as a southbound freight, hauling intermodal containers, passes on the other track. This is like having a model train layout.

Looking at the box cars covered with graffiti, I often wonder if there would be less graffiti on freight cars, if there were more funding for the arts in public schools. Or would we simply have better trained graffiti artists?  As President Obama once said, “That question is a little above my pay grade.” (To answer, that is).

I had a slightly longer swim last night, 3500 meters, in a pool slightly warmer, than the temperature in my regular pool. I will be leaving in a short while to do my swim for the day.

The quiet of our home and neighbourhood during the day is most soothing.  I can hear a few insects chirping and the noise of the compressor on the fridge.

MrsCorC?  is working a late shift so dinner is just for me tonight. I could go buy some fish sticks. Maybe I will.

The Thrill Of Victory

10 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by in cooking, Exercise/ Fitness, food, Health Issues, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Back in May, I decided to get serious about losing weight and keeping it off. I weighed 215 lbs then. Rather than have Weight Watchers© merely draft the monthly fees out of my checking account, I thought doing what they suggested would be a smarter choice.

This afternoon I weighed in at 180 lbs., within 2lbs of my goal weight of 179, so I again have Lifetime status and I get to use the digital resources of Weight Watchers© for FREE!!!!!!

I am very happy and satisfied. I remember every lame excuse I had for not doing the Weight Watchers© Plan. I remember every lie I told myself about being OK with how I looked and what I weighed.

Weight Watchers© is a disciplined way of living, putting food and eating within a healthy context. Plus the inducement to exercise makes the Plan fun. I even get Fit Points© for housework. There is nothing to stop me from fantasizing around my cleaning chores. I am a secret “service sub”. If one keeps the blinds drawn, there is nothing to stop one from cleaning house ” nekkid,”

My planrs for the next few weeks in maintaining my weight loss involve finding new ways to prepare and cook new vegetables, like tomatillos, fennel bulb, and kohlrabi. 

The most important things I’ve learned about weight loss and weight maintenance are slowly is better, don’t make weight loss harder than it has to be, and expect “bumps” along the way. I did not quit.

Yay ME!